As a good citizen, Hendrix threw on some clothes. He then grabbed a weapon and wen to assist. Several other neighbors did so as well.

There was indeed an altercation in progress. A woman – a neighbor of Hendrix’s – was being assaulted by a male acquaintance. Hendrix intervened, drawing his weapon.

Hendrix’s weapon was a bit unusual, though: a samurai sword (katana) with a 29″ blade. Seems Hendrix is a martial-arts instructor and trains with swords regularly. He reportedly owned this particular sword for 20 years and keeps it by his bed at night. He’d grabbed it as he was leaving his bedroom.

The man reportedly was stunned when he saw Hendrix draw his sword and come towards him. (No word on whether or not he wet himself.) The attacker immediately fled, dropping a Chap-Stick as he did so.

Hendrix was barefoot, and thus unable to catch the attacker. But he recovered the Chap-Stick, and got close enough to get the license plate number of the attacker’s car as he drove off.

When this initially happened, a relative of the RD (Recently Deceased) stated what a great guy he was, he was turning his life around, blah, blah, blah. And wouldn’t you know, he was just released from jail two days earlier. On one of the artciles about this, I wrote that the homeowner should be commended for succesfully disarming the intruder.

@10 Yes they would. To Hondo’s example of gun vs. sword, I’d reply ‘Wrong kind of sword, handled the wrong way.’ For myself, if I had to use a long blade, I’d go with a Jamaican cane machete. (And yes, I used to own one of those. Pity I don’t still have it.)

Lot of people just don’t seem to cotton to the idea of a big shiny blade going in here, coming out there, and hooked together in the middle. Also lots who’ll face getting shot with apolmb who back off at the sight of a relatively small blade…. go figure.

I have, in a sheath, a short sword. It’s in a sheath because it is an edged weapon. I would willingly use it on an intruder if the frying pan didn’t work. While the frying pan (cast iron) probaly would work and is always on top of the stove, the sword might be more intimidating.

This is not all that unheard of, actually. If you run in the right martial arts circles, you hear this kind of thing all the time. Most people don’t really get big-time into the news for it, though. The most people think of when they hear “man with sword” is that video of the guy high and wielding a sword.

I keep my katana by my bedstand. Sure, my .45 has better range, but my walls are thin and my neighbor (duplex) had kids. With over a decade of Aikido under my belt, I feel fairly confident in the use of the blade.

Though, for the love of God, it is a katana and not a Samurai Sword… It is only a Samurai Sword if it is carried with a Wakazashi (that is the short sword variant).

Don’t get me wrong, I do have my .45 for home defense. If someone opens my bedroom door, they will get a pair of assholes double-tapped in their center of mass. If I hear someone screwing with my back door, they will get the same treatment the moment they set foot inside the door. However, my front door faces my neighbor’s house and these walls are paper thin.

I know the Vice President said all you have to do is shoot through the door or fire a couple of shots into the air, but I prefer to follow the law and not the ramblings of a deranged idiot.

@Hondo
Considering Churchill also managed to score one of the only confirmed kills with a longbow of WWII, there’s a pretty good chance of him fitting in just fine at Azincourt ;). I catch your point, however, the reason I brought up that quote is because a) It seemed relevant to the story, b)it’s one of the few modern examples of someone carrying a sword into combat and using it efficiently, c)I’ve been a sucker for Churchill’s story ever since i read it on Badassoftheweek.com a while ago.

Here’s a sword story of a different sort. Go to the link and have a read. You will not be disappointed. Unfortunately, the author refers to the Fallen WW I as a “dead soldier.” He doesn’t get it: The only dead soldiers are those who not remembered.

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About thisainthell

We are all military combat veterans and we write primarily from that perspective. Everyone who writes here has a Combat Infantry Badge, a Combat Medic Badge, a Combat Action Badge or a Combat Action Ribbon. We write about issues that matter to combat veterans..read more »